Connected on 2014-06-09 10:30:00
from , Alberta, Canada
- 9:11 am
- Bugscope Teamputting sample in the 'scope in just a sec
- Bugscope Teamwe can see the sample in the chamber now.
- 9:17 am
- Bugscope Teamonce the vacuum reaches the right level we'll turn on the electron beam, make a few adjustments, and start finding presets on today's sample
- 9:36 am
- 9:42 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning!
- 9:48 am
- 9:54 am
- 9:59 am
- Bugscope TeamWe are setting up the presets.
- 10:05 am
- Bugscope TeamThe official session is to begin at 11:30 ET (10:30 CT). We can answer a few questions while we are doing this.
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- 10:25 am
- Bugscope TeamHello!\
- Bugscope TeamYaY!
- Bugscope TeamWe're ready for you to begin.
- Bugscope TeamYes.
- Bugscope Teamwe are here!
- TeacherHi, are you there?
Bugscope TeamHello!
Bugscope TeamWe're ready when you are.
- Bugscope Teamyou have control!
- Bugscope Teamlet us know when you have questions and let us know if you have any problems
- Bugscope TeamA quick refresher: blue arrow to the left will give you presets to start. Click on the main image to move (to center the image on the point you clicked upon), and to increase/decrease the magnification use the red +/- above.
- Bugscope TeamScott can also drive some for you, though when he does the driving, images are *not* saved to our database for later viewing.
- Bugscope Teamthe cucumber beetle is waving Hello!
- 10:30 am
- Bugscope Teamcan you see this?
Bugscope TeamHmmm. My previous text didn't go out, Scott.
- Bugscope TeamIf you get a chance, can you chat with us to let us know if things are working properly?
Bugscope TeamDid this finally go through?
- Bugscope TeamYay! Scott is calling you now to make sure things are A-OK.
- Bugscope TeamSince you were online, Scott decided to hang up. So no phone call.
- TeacherOk, we are here!
Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- Bugscope Teamyou have control of the microscope and can drive as well as choose from any of the presets on the lefthabd screen
- Bugscope Teamwe're here to answer any questions you and the class may have
- Bugscope Teamthis is a cucumber beetle: you can see its head, its antennae, its compound eyes, and its mouthparts
- TeacherWe are 2 grade 1/2 classes and a 3/4 class. Can you explain to us about the electon microscope?
- Bugscope Teamit is also, as it happens, waving to you
- Bugscope Teamwhen we use an electron microscope, our sample has to be a in vacuum, like the filament inside a light bulb
- 10:35 am
- Bugscope Teamso the insects/arthropods we are looking at are in a vacuum chamber, and we have coated them with a very fine layer of metal to make them conductive
- Bugscope Teamthis is what the sample chamber looks like
- Bugscope Teamit's a bit hard to see the insects, but they are on a plattern the lower portion of the image we see now
- Bugscope Teamthe electron microscope aims a fine stream of electrons at the bugs
- Bugscope Teamand the stream, or beam, of electrons, moves across the bugs the same way a TV works, in thin little lines
- Teacherhow big is the microspope
Bugscope Teamit is like a very big desk, and on one end it is about 2 meters tall
- Teacherwhat does the election microscope do to see the bug
Bugscope TeamIt basically bounces electrons - tiny parts of an atom - off the bugs. When they bounce off, there's a type of detector that measures them, then converts those into a picture.
- Bugscope Teamthe electron microscope has its own room, and it has its own cooling water and filtered electricity and compressed air and nitrogen
- Bugscope Teamwe control it using a computer, and now you can control it yourself, from Canada
- Bugscope Teamit is a $600,000 microscope
- TeacherEthan wonders what the microscope is made of?
Bugscope TeamLots of metal and computer parts.
Bugscope Teamit's made of metal and wires and has pumps and valves
- 10:40 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the beetle's mouth
- Bugscope TeamIf you zoom out - (use the "-" button at the top next to the word Magnification, you'll see more of this little beetle.
- Bugscope Teambeetles and many other insects have two sets of what are called palps that help them taste and also manipulate their food into their mouths
- Teacherlots of oohs and ahhs as we focus in!
Bugscope TeamPretty cool, isn't it!
- Bugscope Teamthe little pointy things are like tastebuds on your tongue
- Bugscope Teamdo you want to see the spider?
- TeacherYES
- TeacherPLEASE
- Bugscope Teamlook at all of the eyes!
- Bugscope TeamNice job on zooming out.
- Bugscope TeamI think we can count the eyes from here
- Bugscope Teamthe spider's head is attached to its trunk, unlike the way insects and people are made
- TeacherAre the eyes the round parts we see?
Bugscope TeamYes
- Bugscope Teambelow the eyes are two big jaws, called chelicers, or chelicerae
- Bugscope Teamat the tips of the chelicers are the fangs!
- Bugscope TeamThose pointed ends that curve inward are the fangs.
- 10:46 am
- TeacherWhat kind of spider is this?
- Bugscope Teamit is a cute little white/gray spider, but I am not sure what kind it is
- Bugscope TeamThough it looks huge, this spider is actualy very small. Its head is only about 1mm in width.
- Bugscope Teamwe can see two of the eyes now, on the top right
- Bugscope TeamIf you click on the eye, it will center the eye in the picture.
- Bugscope TeamNice work!!!!!!!!!
- Bugscope Teamsweet!
- Bugscope Teamspiders have to be very sensitive to vibration, so they have lots of tiny hairs that help them sense touch
- Bugscope TeamLook at all the little hairs - which we call "setae" (see-tee). They're everywhere.
- Bugscope Teamspiders often do not see very well
- TeacherI didn't know that!
- Teachercan you tell us how the eye functions?
Bugscope TeamThe eyes are little lenses, like a magnifying glass. They look completely solid - as if no light could get through - but that's just because of the way the microscope works. Light can get through. They don't see very well though.
- 10:51 am
- TeacherHow many lenses does a spider have?
Bugscope TeamIf you zoom out a bit, you should see all 8 that are on this spider.
- Bugscope Teamwith the electron microscope we get very good detail of small things at high magnification, but we cannot see into things like eyes like we can with light
- Bugscope Teamthis is awesome -- you are doing a great job!
- Bugscope Teamsee the spider's fangs?
- Bugscope Teambehind its head is a wooden stick we put there to keep it from tipping backwards
- Bugscope Teamit's like a very small telephone pole
- Bugscope Teamwe cut the stick with a razor blade, and we can see the inside of the wood
- TeacherWhy does a spider have so many eyes?
Bugscope TeamTo help it get a broader view of what is around it. We have 2 eyes, this spider has 8, some insects - like the wasp you can go see, have lots of little lenses all clumped together.
Bugscope TeamThe darkling beetle preset will show you some interesting eyes, along with the grasshopper and compound eye presets.
- Bugscope Teamsome spider web is sticky, and some is not, as Drew could tell us
- Bugscope Teamit comes from different spinnerettes, I believe, and it is liquid until it comes out and solidifies in the air
- 10:57 am
- Bugscope Teamthe spider knows which silk is sticky and which is not, but if it gets stuck it can also eat its own web to get loose
- Bugscope Teamspiders will also eat their web to recycle it
- TeacherDrew knows a lot about spider webs, but he is wondering how many different web liquids a spider can produce?
Bugscope TeamIt depends upon the type (species) of spider. As Scott said, some is sticky. There is a spider called the golden orb weaver that makes silk that can be woven into fabric to make really neat clothes!
Bugscope TeamThose types of spiders are from Madagascar. They're big spiders, but it still takes hundreds of thousands of them just to make something the size of a napkin!
- Bugscope Teaminsects like butterflies, moths, mosquitoes, and silverfish have scales on their wings/bodies that help them get away when they run into a spider web
- TeacherCan you tell us about this claw?
Bugscope Teamclaws are often used kind of the same way we use our hands. some of them open and close, and there is a tendon called an unguitractor that makes that happen. in the middle of the 'hand,' between the actual claws, there is often a part that helps the insect cling to a surface. some of those are inflatable, in a way, as with a grasshopper, which has a bulbous part of the claw called an 'arolium.'
- 11:03 am
- TeacherWhy does the bee have a claw?
Bugscope Teamthe claw helps it cling to surfaces and also grab things
Bugscope TeamThey use claws like we use fingers.
Bugscope TeamIt helps them cling to flowers and stems, etc.
- Bugscope Teaminsects have six legs, and often there is a claw at the end of each leg
- Bugscope Teamno bees, no food...
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of the darkling beetle, what mealworms grow up to be
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its antennae, and its palps, and its mandibles (jaws) on either side of the mouth opening
- Bugscope Teamoh you can also see its compound eyes
- TeacherAbby wonders what the world would be like if there were no bees?
Bugscope TeamNot good. Many of the fruits we eat require bees for pollination. Grain crops like wheat, barley, and maize (corn) would survive because they use wind to spread their pollen. But we'd not have very many apples, strawberries, saskatoons, blackberries or blueberries. It would be a sad place if we all had to eat cornmeal mush all the time.
Bugscope TeamYou should try to plant as many bee-friendly flowers as you can around your house and school so they have plenty to eat.
- Teacherwe have mealworms and they are in the larva stage now
Bugscope Teamsometimes people send us mealworms, and if they are live they metamorphose to the pupa stage, so we have no larvae to look at
Bugscope Teamtoday we have a pupa and this dude, which is a beetle -- it's all grown up!
- 11:09 am
- Teachernow Morgan wonders what the world would be like without spiders?
Bugscope TeamA happy place. :)
Bugscope Teamspiders help keep all of the super pesky insects from overwhelming us
Bugscope TeamJust kidding. It would be bad because the spiders help keep bad bugs down.
Bugscope TeamSpiders eat a lot of disease-spreading flies, and also eat insects that cause problems on our food.
- Teacherdoes that mean spiders are not important?
Bugscope TeamNope. I was kidding. :)
Bugscope TeamThey are *VERY* important. See the answer below if you can. :)
Bugscope Teamthey are important for sure
Bugscope TeamWhen I find them in my house, I always catch them and let them go outside. They keep stuff I don't want away.
- Bugscope Teamthere is a delicate balance among all of the living things, and if we upset it too much we find out, sometimes too late, that we really needed and relied on one component
- 11:15 am
- Teacherso, are there any bugs that we could do without-like mosquitoes perhaps?
Bugscope TeamUnfortunately, all bugs are important. Mosquitos are food for birds and bats. We can do with fewer of them on occasion, but everything is food for something else. That's why it is rarely a good idea to exterminate things without considering the consequences.
Bugscope TeamSometimes there are too many destructive pests - like termites - but we have to be careful about killing everthing because it can cause problems for other animals and eventually people.
Bugscope TeamWe live in a farming area here in Illinois. So we have to be careful to balance our need to grow corn and soybeans with the needs of the wildlife. We don't always do a good job of that, unfortunately.
- Bugscope Teaminsects are called invertebrates becasue they do not have backbones, but really they do not have bones at all; instead, they have an exoskeleton, which is like wearing a suit of armor
Bugscope Teamthat is why we see so many 'hairs,' also called setae; they are used to help the insect sense its environment
- Teacherdo you spray with pesticides
Bugscope TeamI have on occasion. My specialty is in breeding and growing blackberries. We had a bazillion fruit flies last year that arrived from China. They are a real problem because maggots infest the fruit. If we can control them by getting rid of overripe fruit or through the use of sticky traps, we will try that before we use pesticides.
Bugscope TeamIf they become a huge problem, then it may be that we have to spray. But we will only do so at the appropriate time, when the spray will do the most good and cause the fewest problems for the insects we want - especially the bees.
- Teacherwhy does this claw have so many patterns
Bugscope Teamthe patterns are the shape in which it formed, and all of the intricacies make it more rigid, so that it is strong and does not bend
Bugscope TeamThe patterns form on their own, like your fingerprints.
- Bugscope Teambedbugs are said to be impervious to many insecticides, and it may be because they developed that immunity over time
Bugscope TeamUgh. I inherited a box of 35mm slides from someone. I later found out their home was infested with bedbugs. I'm glad I haven't taken the box home yet... :)
- Bugscope Teamwe have seen the same problem with bacteria. if we use bactericides, eventually the bacteria change so they are not affected by the bactericides
- 11:21 am
- Bugscope TeamIf you haven't seen the bee head yet, you should look at it. I think it is funny.
- Bugscope Teamwe are lucky here because when we find bugs we can catch them and use them for Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamgood hair day
- Bugscope TeamHee hee. This thing cracks me up.
- Bugscope TeamThose big ball-like things are the eyes.
- Bugscope Teamsee its mandibles?
- Teacherhow many lenses does it have
Bugscope TeamYou should zoom in on it. It is neat.
Bugscope TeamThought you did. But we wanted it to be a surprise. :)
Bugscope TeamIsn't that cool!
- Bugscope Teamprobably two to three thousand facets per compound eye
- Teacherwhy is it so hairy
- Teacherwe knew that!
Bugscope Team:)
- Bugscope Teamsome insects like dragonflies and large hornets can have as many as 30,000 ommatidia (eye facets, or lenses) per eye
- Bugscope Teamhaving compound eyes enables insects to see more without moving their heads
- Bugscope TeamThat's one of the antenna curving just off center.
- Bugscope TeamSadly, the stinger isn't visible.
- 11:28 am
- Teacherwhy is it so hairy
Bugscope Teamthe hairs have multiple purposes: some are mechanoreceptors, for touch and sensing wind currents; some are chemosensory,. for tasting the air and food and sensing pheromones; some are thermosensory, for sensing hot an cold
Bugscope TeamTranslation: some of those hairs help it feel its surroundings and feel its own body. Some of them help the insect smell the air and taste its food. And some of them help it feel when it is warm or cold. (Just wanted to make sure some of those scientific words were clear.)
- Bugscope Teamsome setae are proprioceptors, which means they are used for self-sensing, so for example the insect can tell when its leg is overextended
- TeacherCalissa wonders if a dragonfly is hairy
Bugscope Teamthey are not as hairy, in general, but they still have setae that attach to the nervous system on the inside of the body
Bugscope TeamCalissa, last summer when I was working in my blackberry patch, I saw a dragonfly grab a huge horsefly out of the air while they were both flying. It then landed on a leaf and ate it! Yummy!
- Teacherwhy do grasshoppers jump
Bugscope Teamtheir body shape makes it helpful to be able to leap away from where they are to a new place, quickly, rather than walking; some can fly as well
- Teacherwhy are the antenna hairy?
Bugscope Teamantennae are covered with chemical receptors that help the insect smell the air and find mates, for example
- Teacherwhat is the claw of a praying mantis made of?
Bugscope Teamit is made of chitin, which is what the exoskeleton or shell of the insect is made of. sometimes the claws and mandibles also have calcum or zinc or other minerals in them that make them last longer
- 11:33 am
- Teacherhow many bees can live in a beehive(Alex)
Bugscope Teamfrom a few hundred to many thousands
- Teacherwhat would the world be without praying mantis' (Liam)
Bugscope Teamthere would be more pesky insects because the praying mantises would not be there to eat them
Bugscope TeamLiam, a huge green and brown praying mantis got into our greenhouse one fall.
Bugscope TeamIt liked to hang out on one of our benches. Whenever someone would walk by that bench it would run to the edge and ATTACK!
Bugscope TeamIt would stand on its back four legs and wave the front two around like a boxer yelling "You wanna FIGHT?!!?" It was funny.
Bugscope TeamLittle bitty bug against big old me. We let it alone because it was eating the occasional cockroach and other pest in the greenhouse. :)
- Bugscope Teamthis is the mealworm!
- Bugscope Teamit is what the mealworm will grow into before it becomes a beetle
- Bugscope Teamthere is a parasitic wasp for every species of insect, and also for every life stage of every species of insect
- Bugscope Teamparasitic wasps are often very small; they inject their eggs into insects, and the eggs turn into larvae that eat their way out
- 11:38 am
- Teacherdo you have other cool stories
Bugscope TeamSure. I was just telling you one about a praying mantis when the text erased itself. Just a second....
Bugscope TeamHere's another silly one. When my grandfather was a little boy in the 1920's he'd get big green caterpillars out of trees and chase the girls around, trying to put them in their hair. They'd run around screaming, and he'd just laugh. It must not have scared all of them: one of those little girls eventually fell in love with him and married him. She was my grandma. :)
Bugscope TeamActually, he wasn't much older than you all are. Though today, I imagine after seeing Bugscope nobody would be afraid of a big old caterpillar, right?
- Teacherwhat part of the food chain is a praying mantis?
Bugscope TeamIt's pretty far up there. It will eat all sorts of insects and spiders. It will even eat hummingbirds. (Seriously! Look for it online. There are pictures.)
Bugscope TeamHowever, birds like big fat juicy praying mantises, so they get eaten too.
- TeacherWe have loved this. Some of us are getting wiggly, and to top it off a little spider is crawling on the floor. Do you know how distracting that is to 7 year olds?
Bugscope TeamIt would be distracting to us.
Bugscope Teamhaha. You have done very well today, and we had a good time working with you
Bugscope TeamWe'd be all over it! Cool! What is that?! :)
- Bugscope TeamWe hope you'll consider doing this again soon. It was fun.
- TeacherThank you for doing this for us. Many kids would recommend this for other classes.
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2014-038
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Cody!
- TeacherCody says thanks for helping us learn so much about bugs?
Bugscope TeamYou're welcome, Cody! I hope you had a good time.
- TeacherCan kids access this session at home?
Bugscope TeamYup. http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2014-038
Bugscope TeamBefore we close down, I'll cruise around a bit so there are a few more images in your database.
- Bugscope TeamDaniel is going to drive around a bit to ensure that more images show up on your member page.
- 11:44 am
- Teacherooh, crickets, ladybugs, butterflies praying mantis, stick bugs are some of our favorites
Bugscope TeamGreat! :) We often have these things here. So if you sign up again, be sure to request those.
- TeacherLucas says it was awesome. We'll sign off now, but thanks again.
Bugscope TeamThanks Lucas.
- Bugscope TeamBye!
- TeacherBye to you too!
Bugscope TeamBye. I'm crusing around a bit to add some images to your database.
- Bugscope TeamThat's the thing that looks like a vacuum cleaner attachment in the center between the claws. Used to help it stick to cracks and things.
- Bugscope TeamGrasshopper head!
- Bugscope TeamGrasshopper antenna segments.
- Bugscope TeamArolium in the center of the image.
Bugscope TeamThe arolium is part of the grasshopper claw preset.
- 11:50 am
- Bugscope TeamSnout beetle claw.
- Bugscope TeamSome sort of weevil.
- Bugscope TeamThat was a waving beetle of some sort. This is the tenent setae on the beetle claw.
- Bugscope TeamSnout beetle head.
- Bugscope TeamPart of the palp. Looks like a koosh ball. :)
- 11:55 am
- Bugscope TeamSpider eyes.
- Bugscope TeamWe're on the bee now. Alas, the stinger is missing.
- Bugscope TeamBee claw.
- 12:00 pm
- Bugscope TeamMealworm pupa head.
- Bugscope TeamLooks like primordial (unformed yet) wings on the right and left.
- Bugscope TeamCompound eye with lots of junk on it.
- Bugscope TeamThis might be pollen. Having a hard time focusing on it.
- 12:05 pm
- Bugscope TeamWhoops. Got a blank image there for some reason.
- Bugscope TeamClose up of the spider fang.
- Bugscope TeamSerrated edge of the fang, I believe.
- Bugscope TeamNope. I was wrong. Edge of a setae.
- 12:10 pm
- Bugscope TeamSpider head.
- Bugscope TeamDarkling beetle claw.
- 12:15 pm
- 12:21 pm
- Teacherare you still there?
Bugscope TeamYes. What's up? I was cruising around.
Bugscope TeamDid you want to drive some more?
- TeacherMiller had one last question. Do praying mantis migrate? Or what do they do in the winter?
Bugscope TeamNo problem, Miller! Most of the species I'm familiar with - the ones native to North America, and the big one imported from Asia - don't migrate. In the fall, the males find a female. Then the female lays eggs. Sometimes, if the female is hungry, it will eat the male, but not always. After the female lays several hundred to a thousand eggs into a nice insulated sac, the female is tired. She then dies. In the spring, new praying mantises hatch, and the process starts all over again.
Bugscope TeamThey do have wings, and can fly fairly short distances. But they don't migrate like monarch butterflies.
- Teacherthanks
Bugscope TeamHappy to!
- Teacherthat last comment was from Miller.
- 12:26 pm
- Teacher i never thought bugs were so important
Bugscope TeamYes, they are! We couldn't live without them.
Bugscope TeamAnd that's more than the bees. Even the cockroaches have a role in cleaning up stuff. They eat decaying food (among other things). If it weren't for the scavengers, we'd have lots of smell, decomposing food and plant material laying about.
- Bugscope TeamWe're going to close things down now. Thanks again for participating.
- Bugscope TeamBye!
